Hotels and other business entities in Ghana that deliberately refuse to offer made-in-Ghana products for sale on their premises will have a case to answer, Mr. Ekwow Spio-Gabrah, Minister of Trade and Industry, has warned.

He added that state institutions that fail to offer similar products at state functionas would also be sanctioned.

Mr. Spio-Garbrah who sounded the warning yesterday during a working visit to the Ghana Industrial Holding Company (GIHOC) Distilleries Company Limited at the industrial area in Accra, said soon a taskforce will go round the hotels and other places of concern to ensure compliance.

He said the move forms part of efforts to ensure compliance with the patronised Made-in Ghana products policy of the government, stressing that although Ghana was operating liberalised trade policy it was the duty of the government to ensure that locally manufactured products were patronised.

“There will be incentives to encourage the manufacture of Made-in-Ghana products and there will be sanctions as well for institutions that disregard the policy, this is how we can create the jobs for the people,” Mr Spio-Garbrah added.

The minister praised the management of the company for its abled leadership that had seen the growth of the company saying, “the GIHOC example exemplifies Ghanaian management capabilities and industrial competencies”.

He said there was still hope for state enterprises adding “state enterprises can still do better when well managed, GIHOC has demonstrated that Ghanaians can do better”.

Dr Spio-Garbrah urged the management to position the company to take advantage of the impending Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) Industrial Forum scheduled for April next year to build partnership and network to become major player in the sub-region.

He said the management had made better use of the investment that the government had invested in the company, adding that the ministry was engaging in “strategic discussions with management” on the way forward in seeking additional funding to support the growth of the company.

The Managing Director of the company, Ms. Kay Kwao-Simmonds, in the company of the Board Chairman, Joseph Ade Coker and other management staff conducted the minister round the production line of the distillery company.

The company is currently going through an expansion project which includes the establishment of a non-alcoholic section with laboratory which is about 75 per cent complete and scheduled to be inaugurated by the end of the year to start production.

The GIHOC Distilleries is the only surviving unit under the erstwhile Ghana Industrial Holding Conglomerate, which was registered as a private limited liability company in 1993, and brews alcoholic beverages like Castle Bridge Dry Gin, Mandingo Bitters, Herb Afrik Bitters and Kaiser Schnapps.